GOOD JOBS WITH GOOD WAGES

Lane Siekman "A Voice for Hoosier Families"

BRINGING SMALL TOWN VALUES TO WASHINGTON

NEWS ITEM: As Donald Trump was criticizing Carrier’s decision to slash over 1,400 Hoosier jobs, Mike Pence only called it “disappointing” and couldn’t specify which federal rule was to blame for the decision to cut jobs in the state. – Indianapolis Business Journal, 2.12.16

The biggest issue surrounding American jobs is wages. 140,000 workers have received pink slips during President Trump’s first six months in office, as companies continue to ship jobs offshore. American workers have lost jobs due to outsourcing to Mexico or China or due to improvements in automation. Wages have fallen by 1.4 percent nationwide and too many of the jobs available today in Indiana are low wage, low skill positions which just don’t cut it. Companies that outsource American jobs must face consequences for their decisions.

Lane supports raising the minimum wage to become a livable wage. It now requires a job with a wage of over $21 an hour for a single person with one child to live above the poverty level in the 6th District.

We can also invest in infrastructure which would put more than thirteen million Americans to work in decent-paying jobs. Today, the U.S. spends less than 2 percent of GDP on infrastructure, less than at any point in the last twenty years. Meanwhile, Europe spends close to twice our rate, and China spends close to four times our rate. It is no wonder the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report now ranks our overall infrastructure at 12th in the world – down from 7th place just a decade ago. These are jobs in sectors of the economy that haven’t fully recovered from the recession, like construction, and they are jobs that cannot be shipped offshore or outsourced overseas.

Lane believes that America has to do better at creating decent jobs with good wages for working Hoosier families.